WAY DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD


Traditional
I'd rather be in Richmond in all the hail and rain
Then to be in Georgia, boys, wearing that ball and chain


Won't get drunk no more
Won't get drunk no more
Won't get drunk no more
Way down the old plank road


I went down to Mobile to get on the gravel train
Very next thing they heard of me, had on the ball and chain


Doney, oh dear Doney, what makes you treat me so
Caused me to wear the ball and chain and now my ankles sore


Knoxville is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty
If you want to see them pretty girls, now hop to Chattanoogie


I'm going to build me a scaffold on the mountain high
So I can see my pretty girl as she goes riding by


My wife died a Friday night, Saturday she was buried
Sunday was my courting day, and Monday I got married


Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well